Intellectual Property 101

By Danielle LeFloreCertified Paralegal

Intellectual property has the shelf life of a banana.-Bill Gates

What is Intellectual Property?

Intellectual property refers toanything created by the mind.

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This includes:

Literary works

Inventions

Movies and photographs

Architectural designs

Choreography

What is intellectual property?

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Copyrights

Trademarks and Service Marks

Patents

Trade Secrets

Types of Intellectual Property

They don’t know you.Types of Intellectual Property

Intellectual property can be owned, sold, transferred, licensed or given away.

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A copyright protects original works of authorship such as novels, screenplays, songs, musical scores and photographs.

A copyright grants exclusive rights and protections to the creator of an original work.

What is a Copyright?

They don’t know you.What is a Copyright?

The work must be fixed in a tangible form of expression, such as paper, video or audio tape, film, or computer hard drive for copyright protection.

Copyright protection is regulated by federal law.

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Copyright protection begins the moment original work is created and fixed in a tangible form.

Copyright Protection

They don’t know you.Copyright Protection

A copyright lasts for the life of the creator, plus 70 years after the creator’s death.

For work made for hire a copyright lasts for 95 years from its first publication or 120 years from its first creation.

They don’t know you.Copyright Protection

To assert copyright protection in the event of suspected infringement--particularly in the absence of registration with the Library of Congress--include a copyright notice on the work.

They don’t know you.Copyright Protection

Examples:

© 2013 McKinney & Associates

Copyright 2013 McKinney & Associates

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Work made for hire is work created by an employee within the scope of his or her employment.

In most instances the employer is considered the copyright owner, unless a separate agreement specifying otherwise has been reached between the parties.

What is a Work Made for Hire?

They don’t know you.Work Made for Hire

Work such as a proposal, blog post, presentation or work report created while employed at a company is owned by the company, not the employee who created the work.

They don’t know you.Additional Resources

United States Copyright Office (copyright registration)

United States Patent and Trademark Office (for patent and trademark registration)

Legal Information Institute, Cornell University Law School (Title 17 of United States Code, Copyrights)

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McKinney & Associates was founded in 1990 with a commitment to social justice that has prevailed for more than 20 years. From the

beginning, McKinney passionately and skillfully practiced public relations with a conscience for local, national and international organizations.

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